


Hwang Hyunjin is alright

by lossit_bay



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Based on a True Story, Gen, Humour, M/M, lossit bullies Wow again, where is the line between humour and crack?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22932130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Summary: Hyunjin has a meticulous collection of spotify playlists for every occasion but one day he stumbles across a playlist entitledHwang Hyunjin is alrightthat he certainly didn't make. It's full of the worst songs he has never heard of yet something about them gets stuck in his head so he keeps it. Things get stranger though when songs start getting added that Hyunjinknowsaren't on spotify.-------"Lix, I think I'm haunted." Hyunjin said. His fellow dancer would at least believe his story."Is it your toothbrush?" Felix asked sympathetically."No, it's my Spotify playlist."
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Han Jisung | Han & Hwang Hyunjin
Comments: 40
Kudos: 237





	Hwang Hyunjin is alright

**Author's Note:**

> My brother genuinely has this happening to him and 'Suck a Caribou's Ass' and 'Crapeater' are both songs on that playlist. Listen to them at your own risk. As far as I know he doesn't have a Jisung

Hyunjin had a lot of Spotify playlists. He had a lot of emotions ok, and those emotions needed soundtracks. If he was going to be sad he was going to be _sad_ and he had a whole suite of playlists depending on what upset him. One was a pity playlist for when he'd had a bad day at uni. One was specifically for when he was missing his dog, Kkami. And of course there was the drama OSTs for when he just had to _feel._

It wasn't all gloomy though. He had hype playlists and dance playlists for practicing different styles. He even had one that was basically just Day6's discography for when his friend and flatmate Seungmin was around.

While Hyunjin had a lot of playlists they were all carefully curated and Hyunjin had a specific purpose for each one. Which is why he was so puzzled by the appearance of _Hwang Hyunjin is alright_ in his library. That wasn't a name he would choose himself and when he clicked on it it didn't contain a single song he recognised. He didn't even recognise the artists.

The songs were bad. Hell, some of them weren't even in tune. Yet there was something about them. Hyunjin wouldn't go as far to say they were catchy but they were certainly memorable.

"No song this bad has the right to have such good production value," Hyunjin muttered to himself as he skipped though the songs as he prepared his dinner. He had the lyrics down by the end of the first chorus (since there weren't very many in the first place) and hated that he was singing along by the second. University must be rotting his brain.

"What on earth is this," Seungmin asked, coming into the kitchen before Hyunjin had a chance to hit pause. He took a Tupperware of pre-prepared balanced goodness out of the fridge and slammed it in the microwave.

"I found a weird playlist on my Spotify," Hyunjin explained. "Listen to this one." He picked one he had skipped earlier aptly named _Crapeater_ by someone called DJ Fuckin' Terrible. At least they were self aware.

"Oh my god," Seungmin gasped in horror. "Turn it off, _turn it off_! That's not music."

Hyunjin hummed, almost proud to be the new owner of such a repulsive playlist. "How about this one."

This one had a catchy electro beat that was not unpleasant however..

"Did they just say-" Seungmin asked.

"Yup," Hyunjin grinned. "'Fuck a caribou's ass.' Keep listening. It gets better." Better was perhaps not the right word to use but the lyrics were certainly creative.

"How long is this playlist?" Seungmin asked as the microwave announced his food was ready before Hyunjin's. He took a spoon out of the drainer and leaned against the wall to eat it straight from the tub. Seungmin may eat from every food group but he was still a student. Those food groups weren't going near a plate of it meant more washing up.

"Like twenty songs?" Hyunjin guessed. It was a pretty eclectic collection. He tried not to attract attention, and therefore judgement, as he scraped the burnt tteokbokki from the bottom of the pan. This was going to taste disgusting but he had nothing else to except ramen and he'd already had that for lunch.

"Are they all this bad?" Seungmin asked.

Hyunjin shrugged and turned off the gas to eat his dinner out of the pan. It would keep cooking with the residual heat from the metal but at this point that wasn't going to make it taste any worse.

"I've not listened to them all," Hyunjin said, skipping past the rest of _Suck A Caribou's Ass_. "They all seem to be though."

The next song was entitled _Wow_ and Hyunjin found himself bobbing his head in time. It was bad but like, good-bad? It was definitely going to be stuck in his head for the rest of the night.

"This is-" Seungmin started and then was stunned to silence by the chorus. "Ok bye." Seungmin walked back to his room with his dinner without finishing his critique. Hyunjin didn't really blame him.

Hyunjin kept his dumpster fire playlist. It came in handy for just completely obliterating any sort of negative mood he was in through sheer bamboozlement. He would pause it after a few songs unable to recall what day it was let alone why he'd been moody.

Weirdly, songs were still added to the playlist every now and again. Hyunjin could never quite pin down when though. Seungmin had told him to sign out his account on all devices to log out of whatever public computer he'd accidentally left Spotify signed in on but he didn't. The playlist was mostly harmless and it was interesting to see what chaos this anonymous DJ would suggest next.

 _Mostly_ harmless because sometimes Hyunjin would be listening to music, _real_ music, when there would be an abrupt song change to _Hwang Hyunjin is alright._ Whoever it was would fight for the selection for ten minutes or so but then left Hyunjin to his regular music. Once it had happened very embarrassingly while his phone was connected to the speakers at a flat party and now all of his friends knew about his anonymous DJ.

 _Wow_ had also migrated onto the party playlist by popular request. Minho, an older student Hyunjin knew from dance club, had choreographed a whole routine ad-hoc to it while completely off his face and it became a tradition to gather for a rendition the second they heard that distinctive flute riff.

Hyunjin hadn't considered that real people with cognitive function and musical aptitude had actually sat down and produced these songs until his friend from high school was visiting and enlightened him to the fact. Jeongin was a year younger and was still trapped in the concrete hell of expectations that Hyunjin had escaped. At university the work was harder, sure, but if he didn't show up to class nobody cared. If he did show up to class and spent the entire time on his phone nobody cared either. He was starting to think it might even be expected.

"Is that 3RACHA?" Jeongin asked with a frown, lying on Hyunjin's bed.

"What?" Hyunjin asked.

"The song," Jeongin clarified, indicating Hyunjin's laptop. It was still playing music in the background from when Hyunjin was attempting to study before Jeongin arrived. " _Wow_ by 3RACHA." So that's how it was pronounced. Like the hot sauce, he supposed.

"Yeah," Hyunjin said. "How do you know it?" He'd never met anybody who knew single band on _Hwang Hyunjin is alright_ and Jeongin wasn't known for his extensive music taste.

"My Hyung is in the group," Jeongin said. "That one," he said as the third voice, distinctly foreign, started. "Chan-hyung. He's my vocal teacher. Outside of school," he added when Hyunjin frowned. "I'm trying to audition for music companies so he's helping me with English pronunciation too."

"They're from Seoul?" Hyunjin asked. Not all of the songs on the playlist were in Korean. Hyunjin couldn't even guess the country of origin for some of them which is why the thought of the makers of _Wow_ knowing Jeongin was so puzzling.

"Channie-hyung is from Australia," Jeongin said. "The other two, I forget their names but they're Korean. They're at your uni, doing music production."

"I'm not sure they're passing," Hyunjin muttered.

"Channie-hyung is really good," Jeongin said defensively. " _Wow_ is one of their bad ones. Well, not _bad_ but just not _good_. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I've got a whole playlist of them," Hyunjin said dryly.

Despite the close connection, Hyunjin didn't get to meet the infamous Channie-hyung until a month later when there was a collaboration between the dance students and music students. With him he also meet the other creators of what had become some of his most-played songs.

3RACHA wasn't on Spotify, not officially, which is why he hadn't found the rest of their music before. However, Jeongin had introduced him to their SoundCloud account and he had been hooked immediately. So much so that he'd learnt how to download the tracks illegally so he could listen to them offline.

 _I SEE_ had immediately struck a chord in him, hitting his fears of not succeeding as a dancer like a punch to the chest. He must have listened to it at least once every day since Jeongin had introduced him to it. He'd been attempting a choreography to it since then but nothing he did seemed to match the flow J. One effortlessly produced.

Hyunjin knew Chan was CB97 from Jeongin which meant the boys behind him were likely J. One and SPEARB. They were introduced as Jisung and Changbin and it didn't take a genius to work that one out.

Jisung had chubby cheeks and a nervous smile. He didn't look like the kind of person to write _I SEE_ but Hyunjin could imagine how _Wow_ came about as he watched him joking with Changbin as the dancers took their turn to introduce themselves. When it got too Hyunjin's turn Jisung blinked and turned to scrutinize him.

"Hwang Hyunjin the Alright?" Jisung asked.

"Yes?" Hyunjin replied. He liked to think he was more than alright at dancing. It was kind of a rude thing to say when Jisung hadn't even seen him dance yet.

"Interesting," Jisung said and Hyunjin felt suddenly self-conscious as Jisung scrutinised. If the scrutiny continued when he started dancing Hyunjin didn't notice it. He was too focused on nailing the moves and matching his expression to the mood. They were using a new 3RACHA song that wasn't fully written yet as Chan wanted the dancers to contribute their ideas. The track was good though, with a beat that was easy to time moves to.

Near the end of the practice Chan had gathered thoughts from the dancers and Jisung stood shyly to run a version past them. Changbin was recording so they would have a copy of the lyrics since this was apparently going to be free style. Hyunjin wasn't expecting much since he hadn't seen Jisung write anything down to consolidate the pages of notes they had. In hindsight he should have recorded it too because there was no way he could wait another two weeks for the studio version.

"That was really impressive," he managed to stutter out to Jisung before he left the practice room. "Your flow was uh… _" God what was he saying? He was only a dancer._ "Good," Hyunjin finished.

"Thanks," Jisung smiled and a blush rose on his cheeks. "I'll make it better for the recording."

 _It was perfect_ , Hyunjin wanted to say but he managed to stop himself. Even if he did listen to Jisung's songs every day there was no need to be weird and fanboy.

"Goose," was what Hyunjin actually said which was way worse. He had been trying to play it cool by saying 'good' or 'yes' and had spectacularly managed neither.

"Goose goose," Jisung replied and left with a wink. There was no way Hyunjin could face him again. He played _Crapeater_ on his way home to erase the whole encounter from his head.

The next time he went to play _Hwang Hyunjin is alright_ there was a new song. And not just any new song- _I SEE_.

"Minho-hyung, I think I'm haunted," Hyunjin bemoaned to his only older friend.

"Your toothbrush is not haunted," Minho said calmly, not looking up from his work. He studied engineering and even looking at the numbers made Hyunjin feel sick.

"Huh?" Hyunjin could have sworn he hadn't mentioned a toothbrush. Oh god, what if his toothbrush was haunted?

"Sorry, that's Felix," Minho said off-handedly, putting down his pen. "Why do you think you're haunted?"

Hyunjin explained the history of his anonymous DJ and the spontaneous interruptions to his listening experience.

"I thought it was just some random guy messing with my account," Hyunjin said. "But then yesterday _I SEE_ appeared on the playlist. It's not even _on_ Spotify. I would know! I had to download it off SoundCloud because 3RACHA are incapable of uploading on a good streaming service. And I've been listening to it every day for _months_ offline and now it's _suddenly_ in my playlist. I must be haunted," Hyunjin concluded.

"3RACHA?" Minho asked mildly. "You listen to Channie-hyung's music?"

"HOW DOES EVERYONE KNOW THIS GUY?" Hyunjin exploded. _And could they not get back to the more pressing matter of him being haunted?_ He was shushed by a girl a few seats down and he rolled his eyes at her. If she wanted quiet she could go upstairs to one of the silent levels of the library.

"Channie-hyung's my boyfriend," Minho said, unbothered by Hyunjin's outburst. "I'm sure I told you about him."

"Chris?" Hyunjin asked. He could have sworn that was Minho's boyfriend's name. He wasn't _that_ bad of a friend.

"Yeah, he goes by both," Minho smiled. "He's Australian." Hyunjin knew that.

"And CB97," Hyunjin said.

"And CB97," Minho said, pronouncing the numbers in English. Ah. That made sense. If he was the year above Minho that would be his year of birth too. Hyunjin wondered what the meaning behind J. One was.

"I don't think you're haunted, at least not by a ghost," Minho said, gathering his notes.

"What does _that_ mean?" Hyunjin asked, now even more alarmed than before. "Hyung?"

"I've got class," Minho said as he started to leave. "Don't worry about it." As if that would help.

"Lix, I think I'm haunted." Hyunjin said. His fellow dancer would at least believe his story.

"Is it your toothbrush?" Felix asked sympathetically.

"No, it's my Spotify playlist."

Felix wasn't any help on the haunting front but he did appreciate Hyunjin’s playlist, saving it to his own library. Hyunjin was sure he’d hear them on Felix’s tiktok within the next few weeks. Hyunjin also consulted Seungmin but the sensible boy only reiterated his suggestion to log out his account. A suggestion that wouldn’t work if Hyunjin was indeed haunted but Seungmin refused to entertain that possibility and Hyunjin was too attached to his playlist to risk losing his anonymous DJ if it proved not to be a haunting.

Hyunjin was losing sleep now, convinced he was sleep-spotifying. It was the only logical explanation for yet more of his favourite 3RACHA tracks appearing on his playlist. Seungmin said he slept talked so sleep-spotifying wasn’t that much of a stretch. He was on spotify every day so it checked out that he would be able to work the app in his sleep. In which case sleep-Hyunjin’s music taste had drastically improved over the last week.

The sleep deprivation must really be catching up to him because when he agreed to meet Minho after a library stint he made it all the way to the music department before he remembered that Minho was not a music student and shouldn’t be there. What was worse was that it took seeing him draped over Chan’s shoulders to remember that Minho’s boyfriend was a music student, giving him a perfectly good reason to be hanging around the building.

“I hear you’re haunted,” Chan said with a dimpled smile as Hyunjin pushed open the door. Minho had his eyes closed as he listened to something through headphones plugged into Chan’s laptop.

“I think actually it’s sleep-spotifying now,” Hyunjin replied. “Like sleep-walking but… yeah,” If Chan didn’t think he was an idiot before he certainly did now.

“Sounds like a good skill,” Chan said. “I can’t even regular sleep.”

“I’m not doing too great at that either right now,” Hyunjin said, dropping into a spare seat as he waited for Minho. The older boy seemed fully immersed and Hyunjin wasn’t sure he’d even noticed he'd had arrived. Maybe he could convince Chan to show him the track for dance ahead of time while he was here. Before he could suggest it the door opened behind him and Jisung appeared with two mugs.

“Hwang Hyunjin the Alright!” he said cheerfully, spotting Hyunjin. “You’re in my seat.”

The words trickled slowly into Hyunjin’s brain and flooded the plain between two puddles of thought. How had he not realised they held the same reflection?

“ _You_ -” Hyunjin growled.

Jisung grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not recommend but if you want the rest of the songs they are in the comments somewhere


End file.
